Oh yeah, I remember that guy. Hm, don't you have that one song that attracts objects to you? You are supposed to get it at the very start, even before the energy form. You can pull the poisoning enemy to you by using it, and then you can poison the boss.

There's a couple of useful tricks and game mechanics that are never really explained in-game which might help here. Boss-specific strategy is at the bottom.

General game mechanics & tips

- The Bind Song will continue to attract objects until manually deactivated, even after entering another Form (the Shield Song, on the other hand, will dissipate).- The Bind Song will continue to attract objects until manually deactivated. Also, it is stronger than most currents. I.e. you need to release the mutant for Mithala to suck him in.- Naija can resist any current by holding onto a wall.- The Energy Form gives you points for style (explained in detail below).- Naija is the world's fastest chef and can cook and eat entire meals in under a second. I.e. if you're having trouble with a boss fight, eat if necessary (all ingredients except Red Bulbs have an infinite supply, though some can be pretty difficult and/or tedious to come by, esp. Special Bulbs).- You can use hotkeys to quickly activate Songs (this will probably become mandatory later on). These are number keys by default ('1' = Normal/Song Form, '2'-'8' = unlockable Forms, '9' = Shield Song, '0' = Bind Song). Note that you can directly switch forms this way (ex. Energy -> Nature, instead of Energy -> Normal/Song -> Nature), but you must be in Normal/Song Form to use Shield & Bind Songs.

Energy Form tricks

The Energy Form's secondary (charged) attack has several tricks you can use to increase your damage output. Releasing a charged attack immediately after wall-dashing OR dashing and rolling (LMB or Spacebar after dashing) will release 4 charged projectiles. Releasing an attack after wall-dashing AND rolling will release 6 charged projectiles. Also worth noting, charged projectiles are significantly more powerful than uncharged ones (I'd say about 2x, but I might be wrong).

However, knowing this will probably reduce your damage output until you get the hang of it (which you should). It's better to use uncharged projectiles when you need to concentrate on movement or dodging (especially if you require well-timed dashes) or when your projectiles are missing your target often (ex. armor). Also, it's better to consistently fire charged projectiles in groups of three than delay the attack several seconds for a roll and/or wall-dash.

!!! BOSS FIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD !!!

Mithala strategy

Part One:1. Use Bind Song on the mutant by the poison vents.2. Enter Energy Form, shoot Mithala until he retreats.3. Release the mutant semi-close to him before he tries to suck you in. Alternatively, hold onto a wall near him and release the mutant once he starts sucking.4. The mutants he creates will usually find their way to the poison vents on their own. You can lure them to speed this up, but might end up cornered.5. Repeat 1-4 three times. Also note that Mithala will try to grab you should you stick around the poison vents while he's near you. Stay near the right wall to avoid this.

Part Two:Ok, now he's enraged and will start shooting orange fireballs which your Shield Song cannot deflect. There's no fancy solution to this, enter Energy Form and unleash hell.

Employ your Touhou skills to dodge the fireballs - literally. Use streaming. Mithala will fire a long barrage of fireballs, all of which are aimed at you. If you move too fast, you'll run out of space soon. Start on either side (up or down) and slowly move to the other while he's firing, just enough to dodge the fireballs. Swimming close to the wall will keep his angular velocity to a minimum.

Thanks for the help, Intel. Actually I had managed to beat him about a day before I saw your post. I had minimal healing and cooking items (and I knew about the fast cooking ability beforehand) I learned about the hotkey thing beforehand as well (but not before fighting the boss) What's funny is I managed to get to stage two entirely unscathed when I finally beat him. When I got there, I just spammed the shield hotkey and let him kill himself while I healed the fireballs that somehow get through the shield (still don't get how that works).